2003 in Russia
Events from the year 2003 in Russia.
Incumbents
Events
March
- March 23 — A referendum in the break-away republic of Chechnya approves a new constitution.
April
- April 17 — Assassination of Sergei Yushenkov, co-chairman of the Liberal Russia party and critic of President Vladimir Putin.
- April 29 — Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Tony Blair holds a one-day summit with President Putin. Putin mocks Britain's and America's failure to locate weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
May
- May 12 — 2003 Znamenskoye suicide bombing: Three suicide bombers drive a truck bomb into the FSB directorate complex in Znamenskoye, Chechen Republic killing at least 59 people.
July
- July 2 — 36-year-old billionaire oil baron Roman Abramovich buys the English football club Chelsea for £140million.
October
- October 25 — Arrest of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, chairman of the YUKOS oil company, on charges of fraud.
- October 27–30 — The stock market falls by 16.5% as the arrest of Mikhail Khodorkovsky is seen as politically motivated leading to a loss in business confidence.
December
- December 4 — A Chechen suicide bomber killed 41 aboard a train near Yessentuki Station
- December 7 — President Putin's United Russia party wins the largest number of seats in the legislative election.
- December 31 — the end of the birth of the Russian Millennium generation
Births
- January 23 — Apollinariia Panfilova, pair skater
- March 7 — Polina Kostiukovich, Russian pair skater
- April 30 — Misha Smirnov, singer, producer-songwriter
- July 4 — Polina Bogusevich, singer
Deaths
January
- January 8 — Kir Nesis, marine biologist and malacologist
- January 11 — Yuri Tishkov, professional footballer, sports agent and commentator
- January 26 — Valeriy Brumel, high jumper
- January 29
- *Natalia Dudinskaya, prima ballerina
- *Yevgeniya Sidorova, alpine skier
February
- February 5 — Antonina Shuranova, stage, television and film actress
- February 14 — Grigory Mkrtychan, ice hockey goalkeeper
- February 19 — Igor Gorbachyov, actor, theater director and pedagogue
- February 23 — Pavel Lebeshev, cinematographer
March
- March 5 — Dzhabrail Yamadayev, Chechen rebel field commander
- March 8 — Eduard Izotov, film actor
- March 10 — Marina Ladynina, stage and film actress
- March 15 — Yevgeny Belyayev, cross-country skier
- March 24 — Yevgeny Klevtsov, cyclist
- March 28 — Aleksey Kuznetsov, cross-country skier
- March 29
- *Kerim Kerimov, engineer and general
- *Vladimir Pikalov, general
- March 30 — Valentin Pavlov, 11th Premier of the Soviet Union
- March 31 — Semyon Lipkin, writer, poet and literary translator
April
- April 6 — Aleksandr Fatyushin, film and theater actor
- April 17
- *Sergei Yushenkov, politician
- *Masha and Dasha Krivoshlyapova, ischiopagus tripus conjoined twins
- April 18 — Emil Loteanu, film director
- April 24 — Yuri Kholopov, musicologist and educator
- April 25 — Viktor Bushuev, weightlifter
- April 29 — Vasily Tolstikov, 8th First Secretary of the Leningrad Regional Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
May
- May 9 — Aleksey Medvedev, heavyweight weightlifter
- May 12 — Anatoly Dobryakov, 1st Governor of Pskov Oblast
- May 14 — Gennadiy Nikonov, firearm engineer
- May 21 — Yaroslav Golovanov, journalist, writer and science communicator
- May 28 — Oleg Makarov, cosmonaut
- May 30 — Zagir Ismagilov, Bashkir composer and pedagogue
June
- June 1 — Yevgeny Matveyev, actor and film director
- June 3 — Petre Mshvenieradze, water polo player
- June 9 — German Sveshnikov, fencer
- June 14 — Nikolai Figurovsky, film director, screenwriter, writer and professor at VGIK
- June 21 — Sergei Vronsky, cinematographer
- June 23 — Alexander Sidelnikov, ice hockey player
July
- July 3 — Yuri Shchekochikhin, investigative journalist, writer and liberal lawmaker
- July 5 — Roman Lyashenko, ice hockey player
- July 8 — Dimitri Sukhorukov, army general
- July 11 — Stepan Chervonenko, diplomat
- July 16 — Dmitri Vasilyev, actor, monarchist, antisemite and ultranationalist
- July 20 — Vladimir Krantz, painter
- July 24 — Iya Arepina, actress
August
- August 2 — Vladimir Golovanov, weightlifter
- August 7 — Grigoriy Bondarevsky, professor, writer and historian
- August 14
- *Viktor Ivanov, rower
- *Lev Kerbel, sculptor
- August 20 — Igor Farkhutdinov, 3rd Governor of Sakhalin Oblast
- August 21 — Vasily Borisov, rifle shooter
- August 28 — Yury Saulsky, composer and author
September
- September 5 — Kir Bulychev, science fiction writer, critic and historian
- September 9 — Aleksandr Moiseyev, basketball player
- September 18 — Sergey Smirnov, track and field athlete
- September 23 — Yuri Senkevich, physician and scientist
October
- October 7 — Viktor Leonov, navy officer
- October 10 — Igor Borisov, rower
- October 26
- *Elem Klimov, filmmaker
- *Leonid Filatov, actor, director, poet and pamphleteer
November
- November 3
- *Rasul Gamzatov, Avar poet
- *Yuri Falin, football player
- November 11 — Andrei Bolibrukh, mathematician
- November 22 — Yuri Khukhrov, realist painter, graphic artist and art teacher
December
- December 21 — Oleg Troyanovsky, diplomat
- December 23 — Valentin Gavrilov, high jumper
- December 24 — Eugene Maltsev, painter
- December 26 — Ivan Petrov, bass opera singer
- December 30 — Vladimir Bogomolov, writer
- December 31 — German Apukhtin, footballer